An object of the present invention is a device for facilitating loading and unloading, getting out of/into a vehicle or fixed structure, of any material such as material loaded on pallets or various casings; even more in particular to wheeled loads like carts or the like.
Another object of the present invention is a device for facilitating access and egress, and getting out of/into a vehicle or a fixed structure, of a person seated in a wheelchair.
The person may be a disable, invalid, patient in rehabilitation or any person requiring temporarily or permanently, the aid of a wheelchair.
The problem of allowing the transport of people that are confined to a wheelchair due to limited motor skills is well known and many mechanisms have been proposed in order to ease embarking and disembarking such person from a vehicle.
However, known solutions are mainly designed for public transportation and do not adapt well to smaller private vehicles, where the space available is much smaller and the structure for lifting and lowering of a person in a wheelchair from the vehicle must be less bulky. Such device shall be referred to in these specifications as a ‘transfer device’.
This need for smaller overall dimensions is often met at the expense of the robustness of the structure which as a result suffers from a wobbly motion during operation.
It should also be considered that the public transportation is generally intended for travelling on roads with a smooth and flat surface therefore it is not very important that the transfer device is suitable for unloading on an uneven ground or confined spaces.
In particular, the access and egress of the wheelchair from the platform that lifts it is envisaged at only one of the three sides; usually on the rear side. The device is provided with a mobile safety barrier that keeps vertical with the platform while it is detached from the ground, the barrier tilts to form an access ramp as it comes into contact with the ground. Two fixed safety barriers are provided along the other two sides.
This mandatory entry direction is not a drawback for public transportation vehicles parking in a mandatory position at the sides of the road, but severely limits the flexibility of use of the transfer device in a private vehicle that may need to park in confined spaces, where the access and egress from the platform may be appropriate or possible from different positions.
One object of the present invention is to eliminate at least in part such drawbacks of the known transfer devices.